Men in early child care

Look around at your local child care centre and see if there are many men. Most likely there will be none, perhaps if you're lucky one or two. Should there be more men looking after our young children? And if there should be more, why aren't there?

Credits

Comments (14)

Daniel Murphy :

13 Feb 2013 9:33:18am

I'm a man who worked in Childcare for 12 years. I have had to leave because of the appalling wages in the sector. I have 3 years of qualifications yet was earning a fraction of what my male friends were earning, with the same or less qualifications. Fix the wage and you might see not only more men but more people who care about the children and want to make Early Childhood Education a lifetime job.

Inga :

13 Feb 2013 10:05:09am

My goodness, this could open a discussion about men and womens' same~ness,in loving and caring capabilities,same in all of the important ways. And men possibly excel in others. Men have big hearts, big strong capable hands, can think much more directly, can respond quicker,in a crisis,can often step back and be humble,even if they came to the solution first. Can strategise from afar then zoom in, and apply, accurately and efficiently. I know we women are nurturers naturally, cos we birthed the bubs but if more men were employed in roles that are naturally assumed by, or assigned to women, it would help to balance out some of the emotional approaches to decision-making; especially if it was given a chance to become the norm', which is better than being 'acceptable'. Men have alot to offer, hearts filled with love and hands waiting to hold.

KS :

13 Feb 2013 11:38:10am

I agree with the above. Men don't go for these jobs because of low status? Low pay? Even asking that question inadvertently shows an attitude that we don't openly express. It's called double standards. What that means is that low status and low pay is and has been good enough for women but not for men - women have had to accept it in the past and are still trying to change that legacy. Male culture has come from a position of having higher status and paid jobs in the past as their legacy and therefore those men who choose early childhood education are seen to be 'lowering' themselves into that type of role by men and patted on the back by women. It's about nurturing and caring being regarded as something that women do - including nursing, and generally beneath men - it's still about patriarchy and that affects men who choose to step outside general male cultural norms. Men putting down other men for not being 'manly'. And when I say these things it doesn't mean that every man has these attitudes, it means that it's a general cultural norm. Please don't try to make it out as anything else. And unfortunately those men who are wanting to look after children pay the price of suspicion because those who don't do the right thing by children are mostly men - again to do with patriarchal culture that is not questioned by many men and seen as single instances of men gone wrong instead of a pervasive culture. Male uniqueness? That old type of argument was trotted out when women were trying to break into the workforce beyond nursing, teaching and secretarial - that women should be allowed into professions because they brought something unique. It's not about that - it's about people in general being able to pursue a career of their choice and that it doesn't matter what gender you are - gender stereotypes again. And brain differences are so overstated. So much variability exists within each gender regarding interests, aptitudes etc that trying to use gender as a categorisation for this type of thing is not useful.

Karen :

13 Feb 2013 12:22:39pm

I recall that we parents got very excited whenever we had a male childcare or kindie worker. It has crossed my mind to wonder if males are worried about being considered would be child-abusers - my husband is so uncomfortable about being considered a pedophile that he won't ride his bile to work past a near-by primary school but takes a more elaborate and less efficient route. I tell him he is daft, but it is noticeable also that there are fewer male primary school teachers.

Rose :

13 Feb 2013 1:59:40pm

As motherhood is undervalued, it is little wonder that child care workers and pre-school teachers are underpaid. To all those grumbling male child care workers: now you know what patriarchy has been dumping on women for hundreds of years. I hope an increase in male child care workers and pre-school teachers will lead to men in general respecting and valuing the important contribution by mothers to our society.

Marco :

13 Feb 2013 2:50:40pm

I understand that money is like air and we can't breathe without it but I suggest to people who are materialistically orientated not to work with children. The Early childhood education is here to change the world out there, my understanding is: Give love,joy and happiness to all living organisms (especially to children) and this way you will fulfill the sense of life! Who can change the momentary situation in our political, ecological or economical sphere: only new children with a completely different sense of materialistic values, fresh but critically thinking individuals who would be ready to make things better, perhaps save nature from what is happening there at the moment. I think that only the most creative people should work in early childhood education, which is not only minding children anymore, it's about giving children a complete new sense of why they are living. They are living to play and play = work.

Nicole :

13 Feb 2013 8:02:18pm

I am a early childhood educator and not a materialistically orientated person. I work in the sector as I have a passion to work with children. However it is hard to pay for the basic things eg I had a flat tyre for three weeks as I had too many bills. That is why we need professional wages. I dont see what is materialistically orientated about needing a new tyre.

Simone :

13 Feb 2013 9:23:28pm

It's true that no one ever got rich working in early childhood... and no one expects to. But here's another truth: You can be as creative as you want and still not make $18 an hour (average Early Childhood Educator's wage) feed your family. I'd hardly call wanting to support your family, or eventually buy a house the definition of materialism, Marcus.I had to leave the sector because at the end of the day, my passion and creativity was not enough. I couldn't pay for health insurance, car registration, or pay back my student loans. It's little wonder you don't find many men educating young minds when an average of 180 people, (mostly women) are leaving the sector each week.

Beck :

13 Feb 2013 9:17:43pm

I am a centre director and am pleased to say that 6 of my 26 staff are males. They are so valuable and offer children a balance of teaching styles and role models. I am a lucky centre though as men aren't attracted to a mix of hard work and low wages. The government needs to fund professional wages for yet another reason.

Emir :

jan b :

17 Feb 2013 12:41:21pm

One thought I have, which I didn't hear expressed at all so far, is that spending all day with pre-school children and babies is utterly exhausting. (I know, because I have done it - and they were my own kids!)

I think there would be many women and men who would much rather work for a living by spending the day in an air-conditioned office with other adults, in front of a computer, for instance, which does not cry, demand, talk back, need its bottom wiped, have to be creatively played with diligently etc etc.

I feel that ours is not really a child-loving society at heart. Oh yes, we pay plenty of lip-service to doing the right thing for our sacred little children, but getting down on our knees with them, living patiently in their world of play and imagination takes alot of dedication and energy.

In our speeded-up world of work and consumption, it is more and more the norm to assume that others will be paid to do spend their days with them from a very early age. If we truly valued our children's development, child-care workers would/should be paid the equivalent of a CEO....and that applies to school-teachers too !

Alan Buckley :

27 Feb 2013 7:37:05am

Thanks jan b. In short: I am a father of 10 children. My wife stays home to care for our young ones and I am a child care worker. None of our children have ever attended a daycare except occasionally to visit with dad. I too belive if we truly valued our children we would be much more selective about who we would let care for them in the most formative years of their lives. It is not a gender issue at all however the lower wages can certainly influence who would choose to consider doing the job. Personally I have made some sacrifices financially to do the work that I love the most but, without regret , because I believe parents are going to put their children in care and we should only allow the most dedicated people to do so. That said: in our center we can boast some of the most qualified, dedicated, professional caring people in the industry and they all certainly deseve to be paid as well as any CEO sitting at a desk in a bank.